Once, game development was primarily the domain of teams with specialized graphics expertise. This changed with the development of game engines such as Unity and Unreal, which freed developers from having to continuously invent 3D technology. Unity and Unreal remain dominant amongst commercial game developers, while a proliferation of upstarts—as well as “owned publishing destinations” such as Fortnite Creator Mode and Roblox have emerged to make it even easier to create online, interactive experiences:

Platforms such as Unity enabled the creation of vast and successful Live Services titles; examples include billion-dollar hits like Hearthstone and Pokemon Go.

In 2024, the most successful new launches on Steam (Palworld, Helldivers 2) were live games built by smaller teams:

Source: Video Game Insights

In the long tail of this market, there are all-in-one “metaverse” platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite.